Dump US equities – JP Morgan

JPMORGAN Chase told investors to dump US equities in favour of their European counterparts. The brokerage cut its rating on US stocks to underweight, similar to a sell recommendation, from the equivalent of buy, while reversing the call for euro area equities. As enthusiasm for European stocks faded since the beginning of the year, when bulls united in favouring the region, the lag versus the US had now made them too cheap to ignore, said strategists. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index has gained 10 percent this year, and is trading at 17 times its members’ reported earnings, show Bloomberg data. The Euro Stoxx 50 index is down 1.8 percent this year amid concern over the sputtering euro area economy, taking its multiple to 14 times profit. – Bloomberg